4x5 Peelapart Instant Film and other Large Format Photographic topics.

Sunday, January 11, 2015

Spending Summary: 2014 starting cash, and remaining cash at the beginning of 2015

Those who have been following know that the actual amount we got from Kickstarter was reduced from the "pledge" of $415,025 - caused by failed payments, and fees - to $365,256.

1. Beginning Cash. Kickstarter yielded $365,256.
2. We also put in $2000 to open the bank account, and then people donated $858 through paypal.
3. The starting amount was $368,114.

In early May we opened the New55 checking account with $2000 to cover expenses needed right then, and by May 29 the Kickstarter proceeds were finally in the account, referred to as "beginning cash". We also got some donations totaling $858 at that time. Together, these have been applied to fund the development of New55 and the industrial capacity to manufacture a product, according to the descriptions and risks on Kickstarter.

Spending

1. These are the things we spent money on
2. Each category is a summary of what was spent in that area
3. We might adjust these numbers as we go through the end of year accounting.

Nine different expense (spending) categories are listed here. The word "expense" means money spent. We have records of spending that occupies many pages, so this is just a summary according to the main categories.

Rent, Heat and Lights. New55 occupies substantial dedicated assembly and lab areas, and shared office space, and pays a portion of the rent and utilities at 72 Nickerson Rd. in Ashland, MA. The charge New55 pays is allocated on a square footage basis.

Payroll is what New55 reimbursed, at cost, the hired hourly help. To save time and money, New55 used the existing system at Soundwave Research (Soundwave Research started New55 several years ago and funded the initial R&D, and other things) which provides administrative, insurance, regulatory, bookkeeping, payroll services, accounting and other things that New55 did not have to go out and find separately.

R&D is the charge for services from Soundwave Research that are not on payroll, but take professional time, software, or equipment not owned by New55. For instance, New55 gets full access to CAD such as Solidworks, and Quickbooks Manufacturing as well as other engineering tools used to perform product development and create bills of materials, component drawings, process charts, and necessary manufacturing documentation. If New55 had to get these by itself it would have been very costly and time consuming.

Shipping and freight is what was spent on UPS, postage, overland freight, TNT international, and other charges relating to getting materials, supplies and machines shipped.

Travel is mainly airfare and hotels, and fuel and mileage. Both US and international travel was done to obtain services and key materials for the project.

Miscellaneous consists of things that are not in another category.

Total spending is the sum of the above. The total, and this report, is unaudited, which means that adjustments might still be made, additional bills could still come in, and checks for errors are still to be done.

Remaining Cash as of January 6, 2015

Remaining cash is what was in the bank on January 6.

It is apparent that we will need to raise additional cash.

1. Most of the biggest expenses have been made, and we believe we are close to being able to begin scale up of the New55 product.
2. The project is very near its biggest ramp up event which is to run actual receiver sheet in a large coating facility, and we believe we have the budget already in place to cover that.
3. We have not yet achieved "first lot to stock" which is the formal placing of completed product into a stock location.
4. In addition, we are readying "the store" so we can sell accessories and other items to raise more cash and fund operations.
5. Remaining cash on January 6, 2015 is $111,575, subject to tax.

4 comments:

Catherine, some have done it by going to the donate page at http://new55.net and used paypal. We plan to raise another $100,000 over time, and need at least $50,000. Supporters have suggested several creative and interesting ways we might proceed with fundraising and we're quickly looking into them.

Could we somehow pre order and pay in advance? or sell items, sell signed/unique/test shots we can keep to be part of the history? Get your ambassadors to take some shots and sell prints of those? I'm no expert at raising money but I know I want to buy this!

I too agree with Anonymous as I would be willing to pay in advance for several packets of film.

You might also consider some form of membership option to raise funds. The benefit of membership might be a discount on purchases or free shipping. Other benefits would be a 'members only' chat group to share photos and discuss the medium. I would be willing to pay $100/year for a membership.